Letters

The Canadian menaceThank goodness for Republicans likegubernatorial hopeful Sheriff Mike Bouchard and State RepresentativeKim Meltzer for promoting tougher laws to deal with undocumentedaliens in our fair state.Ive worried for years about the influx of hordes of Canadians throughour porous borders. A University of Michigan study recentlycalculated that as few as 50,000 Canadians in Michigan could raise thestate average I.Q. by 4.3 points. Canadians penchant for civilitywould degrade significantly our political confrontations, sheddinglight rather than heat.And can we really condone the bilingualism that is part and parcel ofCanadian culture? Will signs at Lowes now be in French as well as inEnglish? Go get em, Mike and Kim! Keep the focus on real issues!

William Heil  Petoskey

Government disasterIn Pure Greed Drove Wall Street, (5/3) Senator Levin states thatgreedy Wall Street bankers and incompetent rating agencies are toblame for todays economic turmoil.The facts tell a different story. Government intervened in properlyfunctioning markets over a period of several decades. This distortioneliminated the discipline of the market and created entities thatbecame too big to fail, ultimately including Fannie and Freddiethemselves. One can only conclude that the federal government owns theresponsibility for creating the housing bubble and its aftermath.The federal government planted the seeds for this bubble when it beganforcing banks to make risky loans via the Community Reinvestment Act(CRA) under Jimmy Carter in the 1970s. Congress also enabled andencouraged Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to lower their credit standardsyear after year in an attempt to increase home ownership.Without Fannie and Freddie in the picture, the free market would haveimposed discipline on mortgage bankers. Their survival would havedepended on adherence to prudent credit standards, and the size oftheir mortgage portfolios would have been limited by their capitalbase. Not so with Fannie and Freddie eagerly buying mortgages andassuming the credit risk. Banks were free to make loans, sell them toFannie and Freddie, and repeat as often as they could find a willingborrower.For the record, Fannies and Freddies regulator testified in 2004that the two entities mortgage portfolios were too big, too risky,and plagued by accounting irregularities. Democrats responded byvilifying Republicans and the regulator (available on YouTube), andthe Republican majority proved themselves too cowardly to act.Ultimately, this is a classic case of politicians doing what ispolitically expedient rather than what is best for the country. It isno wonder government programs fail so often.

Bill Newberry  via email

Keep it privateSome time back I was fortunate enough get an inside view of theawesome work done by Rebecca Lessard in returning injured raptors tohealthy states of grace at the Wings of Wonder Raptor RehabilitationSanctuary. Our region is truly fortunate to embrace one of the fewfacilities of its kind, and the image of her being unduly forced tocease her important work is extremely disturbing.It is profoundly irresponsible for the Leelanau County Road Commissionto jeopardize this unique raptor hospital and sanctuary by attemptingto overturn the Lessards longstanding legal use of their entrancetrail as a private easement. Better to keep the easement private andsave raptors than serve mushrooming interests of county roadcommissioners, commercial ventures, and/or well-known and connectedlocals.Intelligent, dedicated, high work-ethic people, the Lessards havelegally and sensitively carved out a sacred place and space in theLeelanau forests -- for the right reasons. I pray that they prevail intheir well-founded dispute with the road commission, and that Wings ofWonders marvelous work be allowed to continue.Besides prayers, Im sending a check to Wings of Wonder (address onWOW‘s website) to help with legal and other expenses the Lessards nowface as a result of the road commissions ill-conceived actions. Iencourage others to do the same. To witness the release and return ofa rehabilitated owl, hawk, eagle or other raptor to its naturalhabitat is to witness an exquisite healing. Be a part of it.

Rev. Harry C. Dorman  via email

No microwave dangerI was very disappointed to read Robert Downes editorial onelectromagnet radiation in the May 10 issue.When I think of sources to turn to for my science information, GQmagazine is seldom a resource that I think of. For some very goodreasons that Mr. Downes should be aware of as well.GQ magazine is not a science journal. Christopher Ketcham, who wrotethe GQ article is... a poet. Not a physician, not a doctor, not anauthority on the health effects of EMFs, and certainly not a personwho knows much about or cares much about science.Now, it may seem like an irresistible instance of poetic justice thathigh-tech devices should give their pretentious yuppy users braintumors. The fact of the matter is that the scientific consensus isthat EMFs produced by cellphones and WIFI are not dangerous.The National Research Council (NRC) spent more than three yearsreviewing more than 500 scientific studies that had been conductedover a 20-year period and found no conclusive and consistentevidence that electromagnetic fields harm humans. The chairman of theNRC panel, neurobiologist Dr. Charles F. Stevens, said that, Researchhas not shown in any convincing way that electromagnetic fields commonin homes can cause health problems, and extensive laboratory testshave not shown that EMFs can damage the cell in a way that is harmfulto human health. (from skepdic.com)There are good, readable websites written by people who actually havescientific credentials that have responded to and debunked Ketchamsfearmongering. Places like:http://scienceblogs.com/insolence/2010/03/mobile_phone_companies_tobacco_companies.php.Ketchams article is recycled, discredited, exaggerated junk.But at any rate it would seem to me that it is the responsibility ofan editor to have a passing familiarity with a health issue he or shewrites about. Familiarity that goes beyond GQ. Familiarity that goesbeyond non-scientific scaremongers.We live in a state with several major research and medical facilities.Was picking up a phone to talk to some real scientists and researcherstoo much to ask from a journalist? Even one writing an editorial?Heres some news you might not want to hear: your editorial seems toargue that you left your brain or your motivation at Palolem Beach. AsJohnnie Cochran would have said: If you are going to write, do itright. Dont crib from poets writing on science in GQ, and dont letyour resentment about digital devices get in the way of the facts.

Oran Kelley  TC

Write a letterDear citizens of Traverse City:Burning our forests for electricity is a foolish and unsustainableendeavor and you know it. You can feel it. It has already startedlocally with a large wood burning plant in the Cadillac area. More areproposed in Mancelona, Grayling and Manistee. All of these plants‘ 50to 75 mile radii intersect in Grand Traverse County.Already, truckloads of wood are coming from Kalkaska and GrandTraverse to feed the huge plant in the Cadillac area. Traverse CityLight & Power (TCLP) has shown how its proposed consumption issustainable. The problem is that TCLP does not operate in a vacuum.All of these plants will compete for our forests, both public andprivate.The quality of our air and water in Northern Michigan is what makes itfeel different than downstate. Burning our forests for electricitywill change that. If you like how Lansing, Flint and Midland feel,just go ahead and do nothing!As a Garfield Township resident I dont have the voting influencethat the citizens of Traverse City do.Citizens of Traverse City, we need you to speak up! You have a directinfluence on the city commissioners and they have a direct influenceon TCLP. Write a letter, a hand-written letter to your citycommissioners. Then attend the city commission meetings. Let yourlocal representatives know your opinion on this issue. You can make adifference.

Doug Downer  TC native

Biomass questionsLets ask different questions about biomass. Do you think about howyour electricity is generated right this minute? About the damage toour health from burning coalsay, from airborne mercury? What aboutthe damage to our earth and natural resources from harvesting coal? Orthe potential harm from nuclear power? How renewable is coal? How manylives have been lost lately with biomass collecting, compared to coalmining? Does burning coal produce a brown cloud of air pollution? Doesburning coal leave a residue on your cars? Are the trains that delivercoal noisy to the neighbors? Are piles of coal waiting to be burnedunsightly?Do you consider that the choice facing TCLP is not only betweenbiomass and wind or hydro in the future, but between biomass andcoal/nuclear today?If the coal-burning or nuclear plant that generates the electricity weuse today were in town, and the coal was mined locally, and the deadminers were our menthe story here would be different, wouldnt it?Dont you think that if wind and hydro could get us off coal andnuclear power as soon, as reliably, as cost-effectively as biomass,TCLP would be pursuing those first?Are you strongly opposed to forms of electricity that foul our air andland and hurt us? Then I suggest you immediately stop using any.

Lyn Dolson Pugh  via email

Clarification:Last weeks story on the suicide of Anne Avery-Miller should have saidthat although her parental rights were to be terminated, her8-year-old daughter remains with her father.